Digimon Adventure tri. Saikai Anime Review

This post is by guest writer Sam Gubitz.

Return to Form

The history of Digimon is a long one; in fact, it has one of the longest and most storied histories of any 21st century anime franchise. Most reading this review are probably familiar with the original 1999 anime series, Digimon Adventure, which many considered a decent rival/copycat of Pokemon. However, what many don’t readily know is that its direct sequel series Digimon Adventure 02, was the only other season of Digimon that took place in the same universe and featured the same characters. The four series that followed, Tamers, Frontier, Data Squad, and Fusion, all take place in different universes and feature different characters with similar settings and themes. However, it’s an almost indisputable fact that, apart from Tamers — the best season of Digimon, in my opinion — Digimon became more mediocre as time went on. Come 2014, it had seemed like a foregone conclusion that Digimon was destined to be lost to the annals of anime history; just another series that couldn’t adapt with its audience’s changing tastes.

Then, low and behold, Toei Animation announced in late 2014 that they would be releasing Digimon Adventure tri., a direct sequel to the first two seasons of the franchise, back when things were simple and pure; no alternate universes to contend with here. Midway through production, though, Toei announced that the originally-announced, 24-episode series was going to be turned into a six-film series. While most swept this creative decision under the rug, I found it strange, given that the only other notable series to adopt this model was the Rebuild of Evangelion film series and that implementation has been less than stellar. But now, having seen the first Digimon Adventure tri. film — or rather, the four “episodes” that Western audiences can stream legally — I find that decision even stranger.

Digimon Adventure tri. Saikai is a tremendous return to form for Digimon as an anime franchise, but it’s not without its shortcomings. Thankfully, however, most of those shortcomings result from the aforementioned decision to turn this into a film series. Classic animation with just a polish of modern style, strong characters with relatable problems, meaty action scenes, and a keen eye for implementing the best strengths of contemporary more than outweigh the awkward pacing and the lack of any sense of a satisfying conclusion that blemishes an otherwise impressive film.

Episode 1 Review

Taking place nearly three years after the events of Digimon Adventure 02, we’re quickly reintroduced to our large, diverse cast of characters, all of which are seemingly just older versions of their younger selves that we enjoyed in the original two TV series. Taichi still plays soccer, Yamato is still in a band, and Sora is somehow still stuck in a love triangle with the aforementioned two with none of them even realizing it. And, at first glance, one might just conclude that these characters really haven’t changed in three years of their time and over a decade of ours, but you’d be wrong. There’s a surprising amount of depth to most of our eight protagonists that’s slowly revealed throughout this first act.

These aren’t exactly the same characters we grew up with; their paths from before have taken them in directions perhaps fans of the series never saw coming, and it’s a treat to watch the layers unfold. For example, Jo’s emphasis on studying was comical in the television series, but now it’s just depressing as he throws himself in his books and ignores the world around him. It’s these sorts of twists on our expectations that make this a worthy sequel to the original series that meant so much to so many. The series creators have made the conscious choice to grow up with their audience, incorporating some of the best aspects of many contemporary “slice of life” anime.

But, perhaps, one could say that the main conflict of this first act, if not the film as a whole, revolves around Taichi and his anxiety regarding his future. Early on, when he’s scolded by a teacher for not knowing what he wants to do with his life, he makes the curious claim that most of his friends live far away. At face value, we all know that to be untrue, until you realize he’s not talking about the other seven Digi-Destined, he’s talking about the Digimon themselves, who he’s been separated from for over a year. This is a striking look into the psyche of a young adult who has already saved two worlds on more than one occasion and leads the audience to wonder if Taichi is interested in the future at all, or if he’s stuck in the past.

Episode 2 Review

This second act takes the leisurely pace of the first and throws it out the window in favor of a fast-paced action extraordinaire. But this is what made the original Digimon a strong series to begin with. If the previous act delivered the emotional half of Digimon’s themes, this act almost fully commits itself to Digimon’s other bipolar aspect, the riveting action of massive digital monsters duking it out.

When a corrupted Kuwagamon invades the human world, Taichi quickly throws himself into the action, almost as if he’s relying on instinct from his childhood. But while the nostalgia runs at a fever pitch at the start of this act, complete with Agumon saving Taichi’s life in the city streets, reminiscent of a similar event explored in the first Digimon film, Our War Game!, it’s readily apparent that this is not a “second verse, same as the first” sort of scenario.

If I had to name one defining aspect of contemporary anime, across almost every genre, it would be “horror.” Now, I don’t mean horror as in the explicitly defined horror anime genre, I mean the horror of loss, death, and destruction that permeates throughout almost every modern anime. Attack on Titan indulges itself in killing its characters, Sword Art Online literally features children killing one another, Psycho-Pass adores blood and guts, and that’s just to name a few notable examples. And it’s clear to me, mostly from this act, that the creators of Digimon Adventure tri. Saikai want to capitalize on this brand of horror that has become so popular.

Taichi realizes that this isn’t a kid’s game.

But, this is Digimon, and this anime can’t readily kill off characters or crush bystanders with falling debris without betraying the spirit of the franchise. Even so, this second act spends a great deal of time emphasizing the destruction that these massive digital monsters cause in their battles, an aspect that the original two seasons rarely touched on. And as the battles continue and Agumon is joined by compatriots, Taichi realizes that this isn’t a kid’s game and that their actions and the actions of their Digimon have real world consequences — which leaves him with a PTSD-like paralysis throughout the rest of the film. Again, this is Digimon trying to infuse modern sensibilities into their dying franchise, and it works, for the most part.

What doesn’t work, however, is the slightly inconsistent animation quality. This film notably adopts a traditional animation style over the contemporary styles seen in the likes of Fate/Stay Night or Kill la Kill, which is definitely commendable as it allows the audience to easily reconnect with their memories of the original series. However, in action-heavy sequences such as the main battle in this act, the animation starts to look a little sloppy and less distinct, and character models occasionally collide into an awkward mix of abstract colors and shapes. Another complaint I have of this scene is that it suffers from what I call “Pacific Rim syndrome,” or the reliance on fights taking place at night in order to better hide details and save on production costs. In fact, at certain points in the fight, I couldn’t distinguish anything as characters devolved into various shades of gray.

Episode 3 Review

In the aftermath of the film’s first battle and the reunion of almost every major character with their Digimon, proceedings slow down considerably. While the moral implications of the previous battle are elaborated further, this act just feels a little out of place in the larger context of a single film. While this act perhaps foreshadows developments in the context of a larger six-film series, it really feels like it doesn’t contribute much to this film.

Storylines are brought up and quickly aborted at several points in this third act, including a pretty substantial one concerning Jo, who was curiously absent during the entirety of the previous act’s battle due to his studying. This tension between Jo and the larger group is hardly even touched on at all, and Jo doesn’t even make another major appearance in this film. Meanwhile, we’re also introduced to a secret government agency that has been tracking the corrupted Digimon’s activity in the real world. However, the implications of this group are never elaborated on and their very existence in more confusing than it is interesting, for larger reasons I’ll touch on later in this review.

Taichi and Yamato’s conflict feels hollow.

When the world begins discussing the profound implications of giant monsters killing one another in their major cities, public opinion clearly doesn’t favor the Digimon, whether they’re the good guys or the corrupted ones; after all, no one cares if Godzilla saves the day if he destroys half the city to do it. This becomes a point of contention between Taichi, traumatized by the aforementioned horror of destruction, and Yamato, who argues that it doesn’t matter how much was destroyed because their actions ultimately saved lives. While it’s true that these two never exactly saw eye-to-eye in the first series, their conflict feels hollow; there’s no substance here. Perhaps future films will elaborate on this feud and it will become more meaningful in hindsight, but that doesn’t help it in this film, which does away with the conflict almost as soon as it introduces it.

Episode 4 Review

While this final act starts off a little slow, it closes with a resounding bang, complete with an epic action sequence that’s sure to impress. But, this flashy fight belies the fact that there are some issues at work that the film never really addresses. Thankfully, the film does a good enough job of hiding these issues with a compelling wrap-up to at least one of our character’s progression and a tantalizing showdown, and it’s only in its very final moments that one realizes that something feels off about this film.

The gang starts out this act exploring the city like a detective out to stop crime wherever it’s happening, complete with a new character, Meiko, a strange girl who joins our friends while searching for her lost “cat.” While she’s interesting and all, it’s the resolution of Taichi and Yamato’s previous spat that takes center stage on the human side of this film. The resolution itself, as previously mentioned, is just whatever; it does what it’s supposed to do. But what really fascinated me was the realization that I had been dead wrong about Taichi’s mental state earlier in the film. It’s obvious in this final act that, while he perhaps desired his childhood adventures to return, Taichi has realized that those childhood adventures were never playful trips to the park with friends; rather, they were harrowing experiences with death and destruction that he never appreciated until now. This leaves Taichi in a very interesting place, mentally, by the time the film’s concluding battle comes around.

And man, does that final battle come around. While Alphamon’s prowess is showcased by absolutely decimating the champion evolutions of almost every major Digimon, it’s obvious that this is just another way to introduce a worthy opponent for Omegamon, the star of Our War Game! and a fan-favorite Digimon.

The significance of these combatants’ names wasn’t lost on me as they utterly annihilated their surroundings, as their flashy attacks added a hefty significance to the battle between what are ostensibly two gods of the Digimon world. The previously inconsistent animation is nowhere to be found here and it’s clear where most of the animation budget went, and rightfully so.

But the battle’s untimely and unsatisfying conclusion leaves the audience with…well…nothing. All we’re left with at the battle’s end is a destroyed amusement park, Taichi’s still-damaged psyche, and more questions than answers. And a late reveal of Meiko secretly being a Digi-Destined wasn’t exactly all that interesting, and not just because it was hinted at so strongly or that we don’t yet know her significance to the larger story. And this leads me to my greatest critique of the film, I have no idea what timeline they’re using.

I’m a massive fan of Digimon, as many of you are no doubt aware of by now, and perhaps that’s why I even noticed this flaw in the film. As I’ve stated previously, the creators of this film have stated that Digimon Adventure tri. Saikai is a direct sequel to Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, but certain aspects of this film leave me to question even that simple fact. None of the Digimon Adventure 02 cast is even present or mentioned in this film even once, save for one very confusing opening sequence wherein we see what looks to be the Digimon Adventure 02 children getting cut down across a colorless landscape. By the look of Takeru and Hikari’s Digivice, I know they’re using some Digimon Adventure 02 canon, but to what extent I do not know. Also, there seems to be some inconsistencies regarding just how well-known Digimon are in this universe and how many Digi-Destined there are. In Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon literally invade the entire world at one point, requiring the actions of hundreds of Digi-Destined to stop them. But this event isn’t even mentioned by the secret government organization. And, it shouldn’t be a shock that Meiko is a Digi-Destined, given how many of them there should be in the world.

But the film doesn’t address any of these seeming inconsistencies in addition to not addressing the central conflict, or lack thereof, of the film series. By the end of the film, not only did I not know who the main bad guy was, but I didn’t even know what timeline we were using. Ultimately, though, I can’t hold my timeline qualms against the film itself because I’m coming into this with perhaps too much background knowledge about the franchise; the typical viewer might not even notice. But I do hold the film accountable for its lack of anything resembling a conclusion.

Digimon Adventure tri. Saikai is an incredible return to form for the previously stagnating Digimon franchise. It delivers on everything fans expect of the series, incredible action married with real human stories that touch us emotionally. It does this so well, in fact, that those strengths far outweigh any of my critiques, save for the lack of an ending. However, this is not necessarily a great film; let me explain.

This anime modernizes Digimon for a grown-up audience.

This is largely speculation on my part so take it with a grain (or two) of salt. This film series was originally supposed to be a 24-episode anime series, and I don’t find it utterly coincidental that the Western release on streaming sites will be breaking up each film into four-episode blocks. Rather than the film being broken up into four episodes, I argue that the film is actually comprised of four of the episodes created for the originally-intended series. Given the fact that this very much feels like an episodic story, rather than a standalone film, I find this argument rather compelling. Now, why Toei Animation would make this creative decision is beyond me. But, this creative decision did have an impact on this “film,” insofar that many of its problems I’ve elaborated on can be attributed to the fact that this story feels very much incomplete. Would I feel the same way if I had another eight “episodes” to fill out a proper season? Only time and the eventual release of the other five films will answer that question. In the meantime, however, I’m still more than pleased with this film and how it not only reintroduces us to the world of Digimon, but modernizes it for a grown-up audience that remembers its Saturday-morning cartoons fondly.